May 26, 2025 • 28 mins
The journey to heal naturally from a chronic condition can be both challenging and profoundly rewarding. After being diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis last summer, I made the life-changing decision to follow a natural healing protocol based on Penny Kelly's work rather than turning to conventional medications. Now, approaching the one-year mark of this journey, I'm sharing the remarkable transformation I've experienced.
My healing path wasn't linear. Around December—six months into the process—I hit what I now recognize as a predictable healing crisis. My symptoms temporarily intensified despite my disciplined approach, leaving me discouraged. What I didn't realize then was that this difficult period represented my body actively detoxifying and rebuilding. Pushing through this challenging phase led to dramatic improvements in mobility, energy, and overall quality of life. Simple tasks that had become painful ordeals—opening car doors, climbing stairs, even cleaning my home—gradually became effortless again.
Perhaps the most eye-opening aspect of this journey has been realizing how we normalize declining health. When comprehensive blood work in March showed my inflammation markers still at 14 (normal range is 1-3) despite significant improvement, I was forced to confront just how severely inflamed my body must have been before. We adjust our definition of "normal" as our health deteriorates, only seeking help when symptoms become truly debilitating. This gradual normalization means many of us are accepting chronic inflammation and pain as inevitable aspects of aging when they're actually signs of imbalance that can be addressed.
The dietary changes required for healing—eliminating all grains, coffee, and inflammatory foods—highlighted how deeply unhealthy eating patterns are embedded in our culture. School vending machines generate $200,000 annually selling processed foods to students, while staff appreciation events center around pizza, donuts, and fast food. Swimming against this cultural current requires conviction and a willingness to be "the one who always says no to free food."
Today, I'm walking miles daily, regaining my social life, and experiencing a renewed zest for living that extends far beyond physical wellness. I view this healing journey as my investment in ensuring vibrant, independent golden years rather than a future dependent on medications and mobility aids. The returns on this investment—energy, joy, freedom from pain, and the ability to contribute meaningfully to my community—are immeasurable. If something in your body is trying to get your attention through discomfort or fatigue, consider it an invitation to investigate rather than normalize. Your future self will thank you for investing in your health today.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Hello and welcome.
This is Patti, with Patti TalksToo Much and it's been a little
while.
I think the last time I did apodcast was December 1st, so it
is now May 22nd, 26th, and it isthe first official day of
(00:37):
summer vacation for teachers.
I am a teacher still teachingin a high school, and today is
the first day, so we're allquite excited and relieved to be
on summer vacation.
So I have been doing podcastsjust for if you're just tuning
in for the first time, I've beendoing podcasts to chronicle a
(01:04):
lot of things, but mainly I havebeen endeavoring to reverse my
rheumatoid arthritis naturally,without taking or using any
medications at all, and so inJune June will be the one year
(01:26):
marker that I have beenfollowing this protocol to
reverse my rheumatoid arthritisnaturally, and I have to say
that it has been quite a journey.
So the last time that I spoketo you was December and I have
(01:48):
to tell you I was having a hardtime.
I really was.
I was still in a good deal ofdiscomfort.
My experience was that I hadstarted when, just after I was
diagnosed last summer diagnosedlast summer I decided that I was
(02:10):
going to reverse it naturally.
I did some research I found abook and a naturopathic
practitioner that I wanted tofollow and then jumped into the
protocol that was in her bookand I may have mentioned it to
you.
This is the book by Penny Kellyand D Getting Well Naturally
(02:32):
from the Soil to the Stomach,and in this book I discovered
that she herself had beendiagnosed with rheumatoid
arthritis and reversed her ownrheumatoid arthritis naturally.
So I decided to follow herprotocol and began last June.
(02:54):
Now I just recently discoveredthat after you've been doing the
protocol for a while, there arecertain reactions that your
body may have.
The third or fourth month inthat is, that can be alarming.
There's a lot of the toxinshave come out, the new cells
(03:16):
have to be, you know, aregrowing, and there's all kinds
of things happening in your bodyand for some reason, at about
the third or fourth month in all, havoc breaks out.
And that's what happened to mein December.
So the last time I talked toyou I was having a rough time
(03:37):
and I was feeling a littlediscouraged because I had been
at it.
I thought I had been verydisciplined and and I thought I
was making a little progress,and then all of a sudden my body
was, was hurting in my jointsand I felt tired and so forth,
(03:58):
and it really was that, thatkind of hump that I had to get
over during that month.
And then, after that, thingsbegan to really shift for me.
After the holidays thingsreally began to shift for me and
I started seeing markedimprovement as the weeks and the
(04:23):
months went on Definitelyimprovement in the inflammation,
improvement in my mobility,improvement in my energy level
and, you know, I was able tobecome active again.
There's one of the things thathappened as my rheumatoid
arthritis progressed, I becamemore fatigued and it was
(04:47):
difficult for me to, say, get tothe gym, which you know I had
done pretty regularly, but itwas.
It was painful to go to the gymand, to be honest with you, I
was just, for a period of time,I was just getting myself
through the day.
I mean, teaching high schooldoes zap and a lot of time.
I was just getting myselfthrough the day.
I mean, teaching high schooldoes zap and a lot of energy.
(05:08):
I was just getting myselfthrough the day and the thought
of going and working out afterwork was very, very difficult
for me.
So that shifted as I moved intoJanuary, february and I have to
(05:28):
tell you that I overdid it.
I went out and I decided I wasjust.
You know, I was an idiot.
I went out and I was so anxiousto start exercising again
because the lack of exercisecaused me to gain weight and
that was very, very distressingfor me.
So I went out there and I gotthese weights and I put them
(05:51):
around my ankles and I was likeI'm feeling better, I'm going to
get on the track and walk withthese ankle weights, and what
happened was I hurt myself andthat put me out of commission
for about a month and a half.
I couldn't walk or anything,because I had overdone it.
I hurt my knee and I needed torest it.
(06:12):
But that was just me and myanxiousness to get back into
some kind of groove again.
And it was quite a lesson inpatience and listening to my
body and respecting my body andrespecting the healing process
(06:32):
and being being patient withwith the process.
So some of the things that Ilearned along the way were some
of the ways that I learned alongthe way were some of the ways
that I was still rationalizingeating, some of the things that
were going to be inflammatory.
(06:53):
So, for instance, I'm Italian,I love bread, I love pasta, and
there was this period where Isaid, all right, so I'm not
going to have any regular breadat all.
What I'm going to do is I'mgoing to get a mill and I'm
going to mill my own grains andthey're all organic.
So if it's all organic andfreshly milled and I do
(07:15):
sourdough bread, I'm good.
And you know, the thing is thatmight be true at some point
down the road that I'll be ableto kind of enjoy that sort of
thing right now, but in theprocess of healing, what I
realized was that I needed toeliminate all grains, all grains
(07:38):
, and and that was a littletough for me.
So there was a period of timewhen I was doing a little
rationalizing and saying, well,if I do this and if I do that,
then those grains will be okay,and at this point in the process
they're not.
So some of the things that, ifyou are endeavoring to heal
(08:04):
yourself, naturally there aregoing to be things that you're
going to have to eliminate.
You know, like coffee, forinstance, was another one.
It's like, you know, I really,you know, coffee is not quite my
friend and I really need tostop rationalizing the fact that
(08:24):
I drink only organic and Idrink only I drink it black.
Oh well then that should befine and honestly it wasn't.
So I needed to let go of coffeeat least for now, and then I
can return to it and I'll drinkmy organic black coffee at some
(08:44):
point and every once in a greatwhile I'll have a cup.
The problem is is that I loveit so much that you know how it
goes.
You know you have one and youwant to start having it every
day, so something I have to becareful about.
But for me, coffee, coffee hadto go, all grains had to go,
anything inflammatory, and thatreally makes socializing and
(09:12):
participating in groupactivities quite difficult, and
one of the things that was suchan eye opener for me and I did
know that.
You know we, you know we don'teat healthy in our country.
I didn't know that, but it wasamazing to see the extent to
(09:32):
which that is true.
So I work in a high school andone of the things that's been
absolutely appalling to me isthat on every single floor I
work on the third floor, andthis is true for the different
buildings.
It's a pretty big high school,so there are different buildings
, and in my building and in theother buildings, on every single
(09:55):
floor there is a vendingmachine, and those vending
machines will have Coke and Iguess they think that it's
healthy if you also let's offerCoke Zero because that's
healthier and Takis and Doritosand all of all of these things
and that are just so toxic andthey're available on every floor
(10:19):
and the kids are always goingto the vending machines and
eating this really, reallyunhealthy stuff.
So that's one.
You know.
That's one thing, because youknow our young people are not
healthy at all and this junkthat we, you know, kind of offer
up to them on every floor of ahigh school is just ridiculous.
(10:42):
And and and unfortunately thesevending machines are
moneymakers for the schools.
So you know they're about myparticular school they make
about $200,000 a year just onthe vending machines.
So that's an awful lot of money.
So it's a hard argument to say,hey, you know, we probably
(11:05):
shouldn't have so many vendingmachines when it turns out to be
profitable.
Unfortunately, we are profitingfrom poisoning our kids.
Another thing I noticed is thatevery year there's teacher
appreciation and it goes on forabout a week and they do these
(11:29):
special things and everything.
And one of the things I noticedwas that I was able to
participate in almost nothingthey were offering, because one
day was pizza day, another daywas donut day, another day was
burgers and hot dogs day andthose are just not they're.
(11:50):
They're not foods that that Ieat anymore.
So I got quite a reputation onthe campus for being, you know,
the one who always says no tofree food.
They just don't understand whywould you, why would you bring
your lunch when the school isoffering you a free lunch today?
(12:12):
And it got a little monotonoustelling people I just don't, I
just don't eat that.
So that's, that has been quitean eye opener.
And if you endeavor to, youknow, go on this kind of path
where you are reduced, where youare reversing a chronic
(12:33):
condition, you know, and youwant to address it through
nutrition and supplements anddetoxes and everything you
really do see, it just takes youto a whole other level of
(12:55):
observing how unhealthy we eaton a regular and it is just
completely normalized howunhealthy Americans eat.
So that was a real eye opener.
Another thing that I did alongthe way this spring, in March,
(13:18):
because I was feeling better, Idecided that I was going to do
my own blood screening.
I highly recommend this becauseyou go to the, the doctors, and
it's very minimal the kind ofscreening you get and you know,
I know you have to go in yourpocket to to pay for these, but
(13:41):
you can get a really good,thorough blood screening.
Blood screening it actually,you know some of those results
will be screaming at you, Iguarantee it.
But a blood screening, bloodscreening it actually, you know
some of those results will bescreaming at you, I guarantee it
.
But a blood screening for youknow, probably between the three
and $500.
(14:02):
It depends my my.
I went through ways to well andthey offered a health
practitioner to sit down and goover my blood work with me.
So I paid a little extra forthat because I didn't know what
I was looking at.
So I wanted those kinds ofexplanations.
(14:28):
My blood work was very sobering.
It was a very soberingexperience for me because by
march I was feeling really good.
The inflammation had beenreduced, um, I was starting to
feel a little more active, uh,and, you know, hopeful for the
(14:50):
future.
Honestly, my mood was changingbecause, you know, I had more
energy, I had more.
You know, I had more zest forlife.
Things seem to be looking upand my body was feeling better,
and so I decided to do thisbetter.
(15:14):
And so I decided to do this,this blood panel, thinking my
numbers are going to be awesome,and the fact of the matter is
is that they weren't.
They were.
I'm sure they were better thanthey would have been if I had
done that panel six or eightmonths earlier.
If I had done that panel six oreight months earlier, I'm
absolutely sure, because I wasfeeling better, so clearly my
(15:35):
blood work was better.
However, it was stillconcerning.
So and the.
You know, and I won't go intoall of the details but one of
the things that was concerningto me was the was the indicator
for inflammation.
(15:55):
Now, you're supposed to havelike between one and three or
something on this, on thisindicator in your blood work,
and my inflammation was at 14,14.
And so I was.
I was shocked by that because Ithought I'm better.
(16:19):
Why is it still so high?
And I realized that six months,eight months before, it had to
be so much higher than that,because my body was beginning to
shut down, like I mean myjoints, you know, difficulty
going up and down stairs and allof the things that had become
(16:43):
difficult for me, like you know,even cleaning my house, like
there was a period of three orfour months that I paid someone
to come and clean my littleapartment because there were
things that were difficult forme to do, like I had difficulty
cleaning my tub, I haddifficulty washing the windows,
(17:07):
so there were all of theselittle everyday things that were
difficult for me because myhands were in such pain.
You know, even opening the cardoor, shifting the car into the
gear, you know so many tinylittle things throughout the day
that were really uncomfortable.
(17:29):
The day that were reallyuncomfortable so that's what I
mean by my body was really itwas shutting down, like my
joints and so forth.
The inflammation was getting tothe point where it was really
debilitating and that can bereally frightening.
So, at any rate, it was stillsobering to get my blood work
(17:52):
and see that my inflammation wasstill really high.
And I think that what justnormalize it?
I realized that so much of mythe aches and pain, you know,
(18:20):
until it got to a point where itwas really interfering with
everyday life, all the kind ofthe gradual inflammation buildup
, I think I was rationalizing ohokay, it's just the normal
(18:41):
aches and pains of getting older.
Oh, I guess this is justsomething that I have to adjust
to and I do think that most ofus to adjust to and I do think
that most of us normalize theaches and the pains and the
kinds of things that are goingon in our body that aren't
normal, but we normalize thembecause they're not at this
(19:05):
critical point that iscompletely interfering with our
everyday lives.
It really has to get to thatpoint where you know where we
feel like disabled and in orderfor us to say, well, wait a
minute, what's going on in mybody?
So that was a wake up call forme and I honestly I think that
(19:26):
most of us do that werationalize, we normalize a lot
of the discomfort in our bodies.
That really is not normal atall.
So as I moved through the monthsinto spring, it was clear that
(19:48):
my body, I was feeling betterthan I had in years I'm not
talking about just a year agolike I'm feeling better than I
felt a year ago.
I was feeling better than I hadin years.
So that was quite a wake-upcall for me because I realized
(20:12):
how long you know.
It's something that I had toask myself, and I may never know
, but how long had I just beennormalizing some of the things
that were going on in my body?
But because I could still getup and go to work every day,
right, and kind of do fairlynormal things, then you know,
(20:37):
that was just the way it is now,because I'm this year's old,
that year's old or whatever.
But I think that that's amistake.
So, unfortunately, sometimes ittakes going through this whole
process where you're reallycleaning out your body and
detoxing and you get to a levelof health and you realize, oh my
(21:01):
God, I haven't been at thislevel of health in a really long
time.
What's been going on?
So a lot of the conditions,particularly chronic illnesses,
I think, really creep up.
They have this creep that isgoing on in our bodies and all
(21:22):
the while we're just kind ofadjusting our sense of normalcy
as it's going on until itreaches a debilitating point.
So that's kind of a heads upfor people, something that I
learned that I think is reallyimportant for people to pay
(21:44):
closer attention to what's goingon in our bodies and try to
address it sooner than thecritical point, before it gets
to a real critical point.
So where am I at this point?
Well, I am active.
I don't have to pay someone toclean my house anymore.
(22:07):
I don't have the aches andpains that I had before I'm able
to be active again.
I've decided that walking isthe exercise that I would like
to do every day.
So I'm walking a couple miles aday now and that feels really
(22:27):
good.
I am slowly losing the weightthat I gained when I was more
sedentary and, because you knowI mean this, I understand I have
to be patient with this too,but that is also moving in the
right direction.
I feel much, much younger andmore more full of life and more
(22:53):
wanting to be social.
I think that there was a periodof time where it's just like, oh
, I just need to stay to myselfand get get this under control
before I can, you know, go outand really enjoy myself again.
So I'm, I'm at that place towhere, you know, I'm feeling
more comfortable being aroundpeople again and enjoying myself
(23:16):
.
It had been, you know, it hadbeen a while, so, but that's,
that's okay.
One of the things that Ilearned was that, you know,
sometimes we do have to gothrough those periods when we
are cocooned and we are healingwas.
(23:49):
You know, I did a lot morereading, I got into audible.
I, you know, did a lot ofthings that kind of nourished me
intellectually and emotionallyand spiritually.
So, because I think healing isbody, mind, spirit, so you have
to be kind of nourishing andhealing all of those areas along
the way.
(24:09):
That is the update.
I'm coming up on the one yearanniversary of my healing
journey and this has been veryexciting because I do feel like
I have a new lease on life.
This, as I've shared withpeople, this is my investment.
(24:29):
My investment in the next 20 or30 years of my life is to
reverse this condition and toget myself as healthy as
possible so that I could havethe kind of quality of life I
want as I age, as I move into mygolden years.
Our golden years do not have tobe spent bent over canes and
(24:55):
walkers, with oxygen tanks andtaking multiple medications.
We can live very healthy, fulllives all the way to our last
breath, and that is my intention.
That is what I would like to do, so that I can continue to
(25:17):
contribute to my community andthe world and to be there for
the people that I care about tothe very fullest that I can be
there for the people that I careabout, to the very fullest that
I can be.
So I want to be fully presentuntil my last breath in this
lifetime.
That is my goal.
So this is an investment, andsome people might think, well,
(25:38):
you know, that's an awful lot,or boy, it costs a lot to take
all those supplements or to dothat thing.
I don't know if I have thatdiscipline or people will spend
their money and their time andtheir energy on the things that
are most valuable to them.
So if you look at the thingsthat you're willing to spend
your money on and your time andyour energy, that points to the
(26:00):
things that are most valuable toyou, that are most valuable to
you, and I decided that what wasmost valuable to me was
reclaiming my health, and sothat's what I've invested in and
I think it's been a worthwhileinvestment.
I highly recommend it and Ithink that the returns on this
(26:25):
kind of investment are limitless.
So it's not about you know thereturns on an investment that
you've made.
You know by putting money inthe bank or you know investing
in Wall Street and you see thoseconcrete numbers, the kind of
investment that you make whenyou invest in your health and
(26:46):
your well-being is somethingthat goes beyond, maybe, the
numbers on your blood work.
There are so many returns thatyou would say are the
intangibles right?
Intangibles right that havevery much to do with all of the
(27:13):
things that make your life fulland rich and worth living.
So I'm so glad that you decidedto join me today.
I will be doing more of these.
I encourage you to look intodoing cleanses, look into doing
detoxes, look into adjustingyour food, your nutrition, and
(27:38):
you don't have to make thesegrand, sweeping changes.
They can be little changes overa period of time that make a
huge difference.
So I'll be talking more aboutyou know the specifics, cleanses
and the kinds of nutritionaladjustments and supplements, and
(27:59):
you know all of that sort ofthing.
If you have any requests aboutwhat you'd like me to address,
I'm happy to Just let me know inthe comments, and I look
forward to our next chat.
Have a wonderful day.
Outro Music.
Hello and welcome.
This is Patti, with Patti TalksToo Much and it's been a little
while.
I think the last time I did apodcast was December 1st, so it
is now May 22nd, 26th, and it isthe first official day of
(00:37):
summer vacation for teachers.
I am a teacher still teachingin a high school, and today is
the first day, so we're allquite excited and relieved to be
on summer vacation.
So I have been doing podcastsjust for if you're just tuning
in for the first time, I've beendoing podcasts to chronicle a
(01:04):
lot of things, but mainly I havebeen endeavoring to reverse my
rheumatoid arthritis naturally,without taking or using any
medications at all, and so inJune June will be the one year
(01:26):
marker that I have beenfollowing this protocol to
reverse my rheumatoid arthritisnaturally, and I have to say
that it has been quite a journey.
So the last time that I spoketo you was December and I have
(01:48):
to tell you I was having a hardtime.
I really was.
I was still in a good deal ofdiscomfort.
My experience was that I hadstarted when, just after I was
diagnosed last summer diagnosedlast summer I decided that I was
(02:10):
going to reverse it naturally.
I did some research I found abook and a naturopathic
practitioner that I wanted tofollow and then jumped into the
protocol that was in her bookand I may have mentioned it to
you.
This is the book by Penny Kellyand D Getting Well Naturally
(02:32):
from the Soil to the Stomach,and in this book I discovered
that she herself had beendiagnosed with rheumatoid
arthritis and reversed her ownrheumatoid arthritis naturally.
So I decided to follow herprotocol and began last June.
(02:54):
Now I just recently discoveredthat after you've been doing the
protocol for a while, there arecertain reactions that your
body may have.
The third or fourth month inthat is, that can be alarming.
There's a lot of the toxinshave come out, the new cells
(03:16):
have to be, you know, aregrowing, and there's all kinds
of things happening in your bodyand for some reason, at about
the third or fourth month in all, havoc breaks out.
And that's what happened to mein December.
So the last time I talked toyou I was having a rough time
(03:37):
and I was feeling a littlediscouraged because I had been
at it.
I thought I had been verydisciplined and and I thought I
was making a little progress,and then all of a sudden my body
was, was hurting in my jointsand I felt tired and so forth,
(03:58):
and it really was that, thatkind of hump that I had to get
over during that month.
And then, after that, thingsbegan to really shift for me.
After the holidays thingsreally began to shift for me and
I started seeing markedimprovement as the weeks and the
(04:23):
months went on Definitelyimprovement in the inflammation,
improvement in my mobility,improvement in my energy level
and, you know, I was able tobecome active again.
There's one of the things thathappened as my rheumatoid
arthritis progressed, I becamemore fatigued and it was
(04:47):
difficult for me to, say, get tothe gym, which you know I had
done pretty regularly, but itwas.
It was painful to go to the gymand, to be honest with you, I
was just, for a period of time,I was just getting myself
through the day.
I mean, teaching high schooldoes zap and a lot of time.
I was just getting myselfthrough the day.
I mean, teaching high schooldoes zap and a lot of energy.
(05:08):
I was just getting myselfthrough the day and the thought
of going and working out afterwork was very, very difficult
for me.
So that shifted as I moved intoJanuary, february and I have to
(05:28):
tell you that I overdid it.
I went out and I decided I wasjust.
You know, I was an idiot.
I went out and I was so anxiousto start exercising again
because the lack of exercisecaused me to gain weight and
that was very, very distressingfor me.
So I went out there and I gotthese weights and I put them
(05:51):
around my ankles and I was likeI'm feeling better, I'm going to
get on the track and walk withthese ankle weights, and what
happened was I hurt myself andthat put me out of commission
for about a month and a half.
I couldn't walk or anything,because I had overdone it.
I hurt my knee and I needed torest it.
(06:12):
But that was just me and myanxiousness to get back into
some kind of groove again.
And it was quite a lesson inpatience and listening to my
body and respecting my body andrespecting the healing process
(06:32):
and being being patient withwith the process.
So some of the things that Ilearned along the way were some
of the ways that I learned alongthe way were some of the ways
that I was still rationalizingeating, some of the things that
were going to be inflammatory.
(06:53):
So, for instance, I'm Italian,I love bread, I love pasta, and
there was this period where Isaid, all right, so I'm not
going to have any regular breadat all.
What I'm going to do is I'mgoing to get a mill and I'm
going to mill my own grains andthey're all organic.
So if it's all organic andfreshly milled and I do
(07:15):
sourdough bread, I'm good.
And you know, the thing is thatmight be true at some point
down the road that I'll be ableto kind of enjoy that sort of
thing right now, but in theprocess of healing, what I
realized was that I needed toeliminate all grains, all grains
(07:38):
, and and that was a littletough for me.
So there was a period of timewhen I was doing a little
rationalizing and saying, well,if I do this and if I do that,
then those grains will be okay,and at this point in the process
they're not.
So some of the things that, ifyou are endeavoring to heal
(08:04):
yourself, naturally there aregoing to be things that you're
going to have to eliminate.
You know, like coffee, forinstance, was another one.
It's like, you know, I really,you know, coffee is not quite my
friend and I really need tostop rationalizing the fact that
(08:24):
I drink only organic and Idrink only I drink it black.
Oh well then that should befine and honestly it wasn't.
So I needed to let go of coffeeat least for now, and then I
can return to it and I'll drinkmy organic black coffee at some
(08:44):
point and every once in a greatwhile I'll have a cup.
The problem is is that I loveit so much that you know how it
goes.
You know you have one and youwant to start having it every
day, so something I have to becareful about.
But for me, coffee, coffee hadto go, all grains had to go,
anything inflammatory, and thatreally makes socializing and
(09:12):
participating in groupactivities quite difficult, and
one of the things that was suchan eye opener for me and I did
know that.
You know we, you know we don'teat healthy in our country.
I didn't know that, but it wasamazing to see the extent to
(09:32):
which that is true.
So I work in a high school andone of the things that's been
absolutely appalling to me isthat on every single floor I
work on the third floor, andthis is true for the different
buildings.
It's a pretty big high school,so there are different buildings
, and in my building and in theother buildings, on every single
(09:55):
floor there is a vendingmachine, and those vending
machines will have Coke and Iguess they think that it's
healthy if you also let's offerCoke Zero because that's
healthier and Takis and Doritosand all of all of these things
and that are just so toxic andthey're available on every floor
(10:19):
and the kids are always goingto the vending machines and
eating this really, reallyunhealthy stuff.
So that's one.
You know.
That's one thing, because youknow our young people are not
healthy at all and this junkthat we, you know, kind of offer
up to them on every floor of ahigh school is just ridiculous.
(10:42):
And and and unfortunately thesevending machines are
moneymakers for the schools.
So you know they're about myparticular school they make
about $200,000 a year just onthe vending machines.
So that's an awful lot of money.
So it's a hard argument to say,hey, you know, we probably
(11:05):
shouldn't have so many vendingmachines when it turns out to be
profitable.
Unfortunately, we are profitingfrom poisoning our kids.
Another thing I noticed is thatevery year there's teacher
appreciation and it goes on forabout a week and they do these
(11:29):
special things and everything.
And one of the things I noticedwas that I was able to
participate in almost nothingthey were offering, because one
day was pizza day, another daywas donut day, another day was
burgers and hot dogs day andthose are just not they're.
(11:50):
They're not foods that that Ieat anymore.
So I got quite a reputation onthe campus for being, you know,
the one who always says no tofree food.
They just don't understand whywould you, why would you bring
your lunch when the school isoffering you a free lunch today?
(12:12):
And it got a little monotonoustelling people I just don't, I
just don't eat that.
So that's, that has been quitean eye opener.
And if you endeavor to, youknow, go on this kind of path
where you are reduced, where youare reversing a chronic
(12:33):
condition, you know, and youwant to address it through
nutrition and supplements anddetoxes and everything you
really do see, it just takes youto a whole other level of
(12:55):
observing how unhealthy we eaton a regular and it is just
completely normalized howunhealthy Americans eat.
So that was a real eye opener.
Another thing that I did alongthe way this spring, in March,
(13:18):
because I was feeling better, Idecided that I was going to do
my own blood screening.
I highly recommend this becauseyou go to the, the doctors, and
it's very minimal the kind ofscreening you get and you know,
I know you have to go in yourpocket to to pay for these, but
(13:41):
you can get a really good,thorough blood screening.
Blood screening it actually,you know some of those results
will be screaming at you, Iguarantee it.
But a blood screening, bloodscreening it actually, you know
some of those results will bescreaming at you, I guarantee it
.
But a blood screening for youknow, probably between the three
and $500.
(14:02):
It depends my my.
I went through ways to well andthey offered a health
practitioner to sit down and goover my blood work with me.
So I paid a little extra forthat because I didn't know what
I was looking at.
So I wanted those kinds ofexplanations.
(14:28):
My blood work was very sobering.
It was a very soberingexperience for me because by
march I was feeling really good.
The inflammation had beenreduced, um, I was starting to
feel a little more active, uh,and, you know, hopeful for the
(14:50):
future.
Honestly, my mood was changingbecause, you know, I had more
energy, I had more.
You know, I had more zest forlife.
Things seem to be looking upand my body was feeling better,
and so I decided to do thisbetter.
(15:14):
And so I decided to do this,this blood panel, thinking my
numbers are going to be awesome,and the fact of the matter is
is that they weren't.
They were.
I'm sure they were better thanthey would have been if I had
done that panel six or eightmonths earlier.
If I had done that panel six oreight months earlier, I'm
absolutely sure, because I wasfeeling better, so clearly my
(15:35):
blood work was better.
However, it was stillconcerning.
So and the.
You know, and I won't go intoall of the details but one of
the things that was concerningto me was the was the indicator
for inflammation.
(15:55):
Now, you're supposed to havelike between one and three or
something on this, on thisindicator in your blood work,
and my inflammation was at 14,14.
And so I was.
I was shocked by that because Ithought I'm better.
(16:19):
Why is it still so high?
And I realized that six months,eight months before, it had to
be so much higher than that,because my body was beginning to
shut down, like I mean myjoints, you know, difficulty
going up and down stairs and allof the things that had become
(16:43):
difficult for me, like you know,even cleaning my house, like
there was a period of three orfour months that I paid someone
to come and clean my littleapartment because there were
things that were difficult forme to do, like I had difficulty
cleaning my tub, I haddifficulty washing the windows,
(17:07):
so there were all of theselittle everyday things that were
difficult for me because myhands were in such pain.
You know, even opening the cardoor, shifting the car into the
gear, you know so many tinylittle things throughout the day
that were really uncomfortable.
(17:29):
The day that were reallyuncomfortable so that's what I
mean by my body was really itwas shutting down, like my
joints and so forth.
The inflammation was getting tothe point where it was really
debilitating and that can bereally frightening.
So, at any rate, it was stillsobering to get my blood work
(17:52):
and see that my inflammation wasstill really high.
And I think that what justnormalize it?
I realized that so much of mythe aches and pain, you know,
(18:20):
until it got to a point where itwas really interfering with
everyday life, all the kind ofthe gradual inflammation buildup
, I think I was rationalizing ohokay, it's just the normal
(18:41):
aches and pains of getting older.
Oh, I guess this is justsomething that I have to adjust
to and I do think that most ofus to adjust to and I do think
that most of us normalize theaches and the pains and the
kinds of things that are goingon in our body that aren't
normal, but we normalize thembecause they're not at this
(19:05):
critical point that iscompletely interfering with our
everyday lives.
It really has to get to thatpoint where you know where we
feel like disabled and in orderfor us to say, well, wait a
minute, what's going on in mybody?
So that was a wake up call forme and I honestly I think that
(19:26):
most of us do that werationalize, we normalize a lot
of the discomfort in our bodies.
That really is not normal atall.
So as I moved through the monthsinto spring, it was clear that
(19:48):
my body, I was feeling betterthan I had in years I'm not
talking about just a year agolike I'm feeling better than I
felt a year ago.
I was feeling better than I hadin years.
So that was quite a wake-upcall for me because I realized
(20:12):
how long you know.
It's something that I had toask myself, and I may never know
, but how long had I just beennormalizing some of the things
that were going on in my body?
But because I could still getup and go to work every day,
right, and kind of do fairlynormal things, then you know,
(20:37):
that was just the way it is now,because I'm this year's old,
that year's old or whatever.
But I think that that's amistake.
So, unfortunately, sometimes ittakes going through this whole
process where you're reallycleaning out your body and
detoxing and you get to a levelof health and you realize, oh my
(21:01):
God, I haven't been at thislevel of health in a really long
time.
What's been going on?
So a lot of the conditions,particularly chronic illnesses,
I think, really creep up.
They have this creep that isgoing on in our bodies and all
(21:22):
the while we're just kind ofadjusting our sense of normalcy
as it's going on until itreaches a debilitating point.
So that's kind of a heads upfor people, something that I
learned that I think is reallyimportant for people to pay
(21:44):
closer attention to what's goingon in our bodies and try to
address it sooner than thecritical point, before it gets
to a real critical point.
So where am I at this point?
Well, I am active.
I don't have to pay someone toclean my house anymore.
(22:07):
I don't have the aches andpains that I had before I'm able
to be active again.
I've decided that walking isthe exercise that I would like
to do every day.
So I'm walking a couple miles aday now and that feels really
(22:27):
good.
I am slowly losing the weightthat I gained when I was more
sedentary and, because you knowI mean this, I understand I have
to be patient with this too,but that is also moving in the
right direction.
I feel much, much younger andmore more full of life and more
(22:53):
wanting to be social.
I think that there was a periodof time where it's just like, oh
, I just need to stay to myselfand get get this under control
before I can, you know, go outand really enjoy myself again.
So I'm, I'm at that place towhere, you know, I'm feeling
more comfortable being aroundpeople again and enjoying myself
(23:16):
.
It had been, you know, it hadbeen a while, so, but that's,
that's okay.
One of the things that Ilearned was that, you know,
sometimes we do have to gothrough those periods when we
are cocooned and we are healingwas.
(23:49):
You know, I did a lot morereading, I got into audible.
I, you know, did a lot ofthings that kind of nourished me
intellectually and emotionallyand spiritually.
So, because I think healing isbody, mind, spirit, so you have
to be kind of nourishing andhealing all of those areas along
the way.
(24:09):
That is the update.
I'm coming up on the one yearanniversary of my healing
journey and this has been veryexciting because I do feel like
I have a new lease on life.
This, as I've shared withpeople, this is my investment.
(24:29):
My investment in the next 20 or30 years of my life is to
reverse this condition and toget myself as healthy as
possible so that I could havethe kind of quality of life I
want as I age, as I move into mygolden years.
Our golden years do not have tobe spent bent over canes and
(24:55):
walkers, with oxygen tanks andtaking multiple medications.
We can live very healthy, fulllives all the way to our last
breath, and that is my intention.
That is what I would like to do, so that I can continue to
(25:17):
contribute to my community andthe world and to be there for
the people that I care about tothe very fullest that I can be
there for the people that I careabout, to the very fullest that
I can be.
So I want to be fully presentuntil my last breath in this
lifetime.
That is my goal.
So this is an investment, andsome people might think, well,
(25:38):
you know, that's an awful lot,or boy, it costs a lot to take
all those supplements or to dothat thing.
I don't know if I have thatdiscipline or people will spend
their money and their time andtheir energy on the things that
are most valuable to them.
So if you look at the thingsthat you're willing to spend
your money on and your time andyour energy, that points to the
(26:00):
things that are most valuable toyou, that are most valuable to
you, and I decided that what wasmost valuable to me was
reclaiming my health, and sothat's what I've invested in and
I think it's been a worthwhileinvestment.
I highly recommend it and Ithink that the returns on this
(26:25):
kind of investment are limitless.
So it's not about you know thereturns on an investment that
you've made.
You know by putting money inthe bank or you know investing
in Wall Street and you see thoseconcrete numbers, the kind of
investment that you make whenyou invest in your health and
(26:46):
your well-being is somethingthat goes beyond, maybe, the
numbers on your blood work.
There are so many returns thatyou would say are the
intangibles right?
Intangibles right that havevery much to do with all of the
(27:13):
things that make your life fulland rich and worth living.
So I'm so glad that you decidedto join me today.
I will be doing more of these.
I encourage you to look intodoing cleanses, look into doing
detoxes, look into adjustingyour food, your nutrition, and
(27:38):
you don't have to make thesegrand, sweeping changes.
They can be little changes overa period of time that make a
huge difference.
So I'll be talking more aboutyou know the specifics, cleanses
and the kinds of nutritionaladjustments and supplements, and
(27:59):
you know all of that sort ofthing.
If you have any requests aboutwhat you'd like me to address,
I'm happy to Just let me know inthe comments, and I look
forward to our next chat.
Have a wonderful day.
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